Spin! It is what the BBC reported.
This BBC report has yet to be confirmed, it alleges nothing illegal and you guys are contradicting it. You have nothing right now.
Media outlets are quite capable of putting in spin in their non-opinion reporting.
And that's what the BBC was doing. The fact the first warrant request was worded too broadly doesn't rule out the possibility it *also* didn't amount to probable cause---as well. In fact, you have to assume the June request lacked probable cause, because if it didn't lack it, FISA would have granted the warrant.
They would have been compelled by law to grant it.
So basically, when Hillary first floated the Russian narrative last spring, someone in the Obama administration gave a half-assed attempt at getting a FISA warrant to snoop on Trump---they wanted to hack his server in Trump Tower on the chance there was something to it.
But at the time, no one thought Trump had much of a chance so when the first warrant was rejected, 'they' [whoever they are] didn't bother with submitting another.
Right there, we learn something. If the Russian theory had any merit, what's up with the sloppy request? You get the idea getting turned down by FISA is something of a screw up. Whoever wrote it, either didn't know what they were doing---or even more likely, they didn't know what they were looking for.
That's called fishing.
Fast forward to October: most pundits and liberal partisans still thought Hillary was a shoe-in. In spite of the fact her campaign was taking a series of hits from Wiki Leaks and the Comey affair. You get the idea Hillary's internal polling was telling her campaign something else.
So, someone in the Obama administration decides it's time to go fishing for something-anything in Trump Tower that they could leak in time to affect the November election that was only weeks away.
Time to rewrite that FISA warrant.
The timing of the second FISA request begs to be not taken as coincidence. Given the collusion between the DNC and media [no longer a theory] it's very easy to believe they colluded with the Obama administration as well.
Obama's legacy was at stake in the election outcome, so it's very easy to believe he would have DOJ craft a FISA request to tap Trump Tower, because its ridiculously to get them granted---just use the proper language. And we already know Obama wasn't above using the IRS as a blunt instrument against conservative political groups.
All the pieces fit together and it's better than the Russian theory.